“It was necessary, then, for the copies of the
heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a
sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he
entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter
heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the
Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise Christ
would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has
appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that
to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many;
and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to
those who are waiting for him.” – Hebrews 9:23-28 NIV
Long time ago, the high priests were only
people who was able to make atonements of their sins and sins that others have
done, who were part of their community. To do this, specific animal sacrifices
were to be made on the day of atonement in the Holy Place (Leviticus 16), even though there were other
three animal offerings. The Mandatory ones are sin offering and the guilt
offering (Leviticus 4-5,6:24-7:10), but the other
offerings were served before the Lord to worship, giving thanks to Him, etc.. The
main reason for this is that without shedding blood from various kinds of
animal, there would be no forgiveness from God (Hebrews 9:22). However, Israelites
continued to sin, even though God had forgiven their previous sins. This is
when He decided that He could send Jesus Christ as an image of Himself (John 1:14) to save us from our sins once
for all (Hebrews 10:1-18) by crucifying Himself on
the cross (Colossians 2:13-15). This is because God
wants us to have eternal life in Him, instead, by becoming the righteousness of
God (Romans 8:1-17). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
When we were
utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now,
most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone
might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God
showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were
still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of
Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our
friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still
his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we
can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus
Christ has made us friends of God. (Romans 5:6-11)
Therefore, God has poured His Spirit into
us to do His will (John 14:15-27) until the end of the age (Matthew 7:21), since the Spirit of God is
same as the Spirit of the life (John 6:63-65) and the Spirit of the truth (John 16:7-15). However, many of us think
only the Spirit of God begins to move within us when the moments of inspiration
comes. If this is true, then there would be no eternal life in Jesus Christ as
it is rare to have moments of inspiration. Nevertheless, Spirit of God is
within us every second of our lives if we commit our lives to God and if we are
willing to follow Jesus Christ until the end of the age. In other words, we
have to crucify our worldly nature first, in order to let the Holy Spirit to work
within us (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Peter 1:3-11). The main reason for this
is that desires of the Spirit are contrary to the desires of the nature of our
own world (Galatians 5:17). To be specific, our
natural desires and passions start with money first as everything involves money
nowadays. If we focus on money too much, then we would not have time to serve God,
unless we are doing the will of God through money such as serving Him through
charities, donations, or helping somebody (Matthew 6:19-24) Galatians 5:13 states, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use
your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
Be very careful,
then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every
opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand
what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:15-18)
Since Jesus Christ was crucified on the
cross for our sins, we do not have to sacrifice animals yearly anymore. Instead
of sacrificing animals, we have to repent before God (Matthew 3:2) and turn away from evil deeds
that we used to do (1 John 1:8-2:2). Evil deeds in the sight of
God include not believing in Jesus Christ, since He is the perfect image of God
(Colossians 1:15). The main reason why not
believing in Him is sin is that all of us have actually been created by God (Genesis 1:27). To be more specific, if we
do not believe in Jesus Christ, we deny the fact that God has created us (Psalm 24:1) and works through us as the
Spirit of God (Ephesians 3:20-21; Romans 8:28).
“Fellow
Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died
and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a
prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of
his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the
resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the
dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and
we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he
has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured
out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet
he said,
‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies a footstool for your feet.’
Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus,
whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter
and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and
for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:29-39)
Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped
away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he
will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. (Acts 3:19-20)
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